Missy Sherburne Appointed Chief of Growth and Strategic Partnerships for Learning Ally

PRINCETON, N.J., Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Learning Ally, a leading nonprofit with a mission to transform the lives of the 30 million U.S. students who struggle to read, has appointed Missy Sherburne as its Chief of Growth and Strategic Partnerships.

Ms. Sherburne will report to Andrew Friedman, CEO and work closely with the Leadership Team at Learning Ally to advance the organization's growth goals. With an expanded emphasis on early literacy and professional learning, Sherburne's work will focus on national initiatives, cultivating new partnerships and developing strategies with a goal to expand Learning Ally's impact in new markets, build investment in neuroscience research and support the development of needed new platforms. In doing so, Learning Ally will ensure that more educators have the support they need to help students of all ages and more students have the ability to read, learn and succeed.

Sherburne, a former teacher and leader within Teach For America, and mother of a child with dyslexia, has extensive experience working with public schools and corporate partnerships to enhance the use of education technology to impact positive student outcomes. She is a founding executive of DonorsChoose, a crowdfunding platform spotlighted by Fast Company as one of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies. Her efforts helped to raise more than fifty million dollars with investors to purchase much-needed resources for public school classrooms. Sherburne also held a pivotal leadership role at Tinkergarten, an early childhood outdoor nature play and social impact startup to spearhead growth and expansion of revenue and B2B licensing models across the country.

"We are fortunate to have Missy on board," said Andrew Friedman. "She has a deep understanding of the challenges in education and a passion for early learning and technology. With her leadership, we are on a path to double our impact, working with partners and investors who share a vision of reading for all."

Learning Ally's flagship product is the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution which serves struggling readers through schools and directly to households. It partners with renowned researchers at institutions like the University of California at San Francisco and MIT who develop groundbreaking solutions that allow for early identification of literacy challenges, as well as cognitive strengths and weaknesses of students. The organization also works with neuroscientists and educators to map student profiles to teaching best practices, and is recognized for its Spotlight on Dyslexia virtual conference which brings together educators, parents and dyslexia experts who advocate on behalf of students with learning disabilities. In 2018, the organization was honored with a Library of Congress Literacy Award for its outstanding achievements and innovative, research-based best practices to improve literacy worldwide.

Interested foundations, innovators and investors can contact Missy Sherburne at [email protected].

About Learning Ally

Learning Ally is a leading nonprofit education solutions organization dedicated to equipping educators with proven solutions that help new and struggling learners reach their potential. Our range of literacy-focused offerings for students in Pre-K to 12th grade and catalog of professional learning allows us to support more than 700,000 students and 135,000 educators across the US. The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is our cornerstone award-winning reading accommodation used in approximately 19,000 schools to help students with reading deficits succeed. Composed of high quality, human-read audiobooks, and a suite of teacher resources to monitor and support student progress, it is designed to turn struggling readers into engaged learners.

For more information on Learning Ally, and the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution, visit http://www.learningally.org/educators or call 800-221-1098.

SOURCE Learning Ally